Some People Getting A Charge Out Of Using Private Postal Centers

December 15, 1985|By Les Winick.

Many post offices do not have empty lockboxes available for rent, and this has led to the growth of private postal centers. Entrepreneurs have established storefront locations where a variety of services are offered, in addition to the receipt of mail. This can include mail forwarding, packaging, boxes accessible 24 hours and even a telephone answering service.

In general, people who have rented these private postal boxes have been satisfied with the service--until they tried to cancel the contract. Then several renters went to small claims court.

The U.S. Postal Service Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) states (section 153.212) that, ``When mail is to be delivered to a commercial mail receiving agency, Form 1583 must be signed by both the commerical agent and the addressee.`` The signing of the form must be witnessed by a notary public. The form effectively takes your mail rights away from you.

The section of the DMM further states that, ``In consideration of delivery of the mail to the commercial agent, the addressee and the agent are considered to agree that: A) No change of address order will be filed with the post office when the agency relationship is terminated. B) The forwarding of mail intended for the addressee is the responsibility of the agent. C) When remailed by the commercial agent, the mail is subject to payment of new postage, since delivery is deemed to have been made when the mail was delivered to the commercial agent.``

If a postal customer moves out of the city or location of the private postal box company, the U.S. Post Office will not accept a change of address request. All mail must be forwarded by the private lock box firm at the expense of the box-holder. Normally, the USPS will forward first-class mail to a new address at no charge for an 18-month, but Form 1583 requires the commercial agent to apply new postage. This is where the hassle arose.

David Horowitz, writing in the Ft. Myers Press, stated that a reader received the following charges when she tried to cancel a contract with a private mail center: The center asked for a deposit of $116 to ensure mail forwarding, $20 for each piece of mail forwarded to her under her own name and an additional fee of $110 each time mail addressed to her business had to be re-sent. The center also told her that if she refused to pay these fees, it would withhold her mail and sue her for breach of contract.

She decided to sue the center instead. The judge ruled that the center`s closing and forwarding fees were ``unconscionable`` and that those provisions of the rental contract were unenforceable. He also found that the center was violating the law by withholding mail for non-payment of these fees. The same center had been sued previously for the same issue and also lost the case, but the small print in their contracts obviously remained.

Private postal centers are not regulated by any county, state, federal or postal authority of any kind. They are just retail businesses providing a service. However, if you are thinking of renting a postal box from a private firm, read the fine print in the contract.

-- The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has made a dramatic move to regain some of the parcel business it has lost to United Parcel Service. The USPS has requested and received permission from its Board of Governors to start an experimental service for volume mailings of parcels deposited at various Bulk Mail Centers (BMC).

This experimental service would offer only two rates: $1.24 for packages weighing up to 15 pounds and $2.59 for parcels weighing 16 to 35 pounds. These rates are substantially below anything offered by any private delivery service.

Under the proposal, current rates based on distance and weight would be eliminated if the mailing consisted of at least 50 units delivered in the area serviced by the BMC. The test calls for a two-year experiment at three to five of the nation`s 21 bulk mail centers. The Chicago area BMC is located in Forest Park and covers the northern third of Illinois.

The proposal has been submitted to the independent Postal Rate Commission.